I haven’t ever seen any of the films discussed in the
article, but it made me think of the sexualization of children, and how it
could be applied as a counter to the tomboyish girl. If we identify the problem
as children being to sexual, the tomboy character works as a sign of childhood.
This identification plays perfectly into a plot that aims at showing how a girl
becomes a woman. It reminds me of how powerful representation is. If we dressed
the evil person in white and they had a gentle voice, it would be harder for us
to follow the plot. Boyishness in young female characters is just another
cheat so that audiences can identify characters easier. This kind of shortcut
also works negatively in narrowing the scope of representation for young girls.
We see that this representation is prevalent because of the feminist movement
in the 70’s.
It seems as if Hollywood took the issue of equal treatment
for women and girls in school and warped it into a problem with maturity. This transition is obviously created in the
confines of a cultural construct. The white collar movement as it related to
masculinity in men was a driving force in the plots of these films. Men wanted
to reassure other men that they can be less physically strong and still be
masculine. But it seems like in order for this to work, the identity of women
and femininity needed to be more clearly identified. In times where the identification
of men is transforming, I think that media works harder to outline what it is
to be ladylike (just a guess).
Like other readings, this article makes me want to make a
film that goes against these media generated norms. It would be interesting to
bring the boyish female character back today to see how our present culture and
male/female gender identity would view such a character.
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